iPhone production in Shenzhen ‘basically’ back to normal after COVID-19 lockdown

Twelve days after Foxconn’s Shenzhen factory announced it had halted iPhone production due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the company says it has “basically” resumed normal operations in its campuses.

Shenzhen was in a strict lockdown imposed by the local government following a new COVID-19 outbreak. Although this factory could impact not more than 10% of global iPhone production, according to an analyst, it’s good news that it’s back to normal.

Nikkei Asia reports that this Foxconn factory had restarted some production and operation by last Wednesday “after arranging for some staff to live and work in a bubble, an arrangement requested by the local government as it battles the spread of COVID-19.”

The company said in a statement that according to a government notice, it has “basically resumed normal work order and production operations” at its major campuses such as in the city’s Longhua and Guanlan districts.

This is happening “under the premise of abiding by epidemic prevention policies and strictly implementing epidemic prevention and control”, it added.

The publication notes that although iPhone production had to be halted, only a small part of Foxconn’s iPhone production takes place in Shenzhen, with the majority happening in Zhengzhou.

It’s important to notice that this interruption occurred while Apple just announced a new iPhone SE 3 and more color options for the iPhone 13 line.

The new iPhone SE 3 is expected to account for 25% of iPhone sales this year in India. According to the Indian Business Today publication, Apple shipped 5.4 million phones in the country in 2021, and it’s expected to cross the 7.5 million mark this year thanks to the iPhone SE 3.

“With the new iPhone SE 2022, Apple will seek to further build on its recent growth momentum in India. We anticipate the new iPhone SE 2022 shipments to post strong growth in the first quarter of launch, recording a 224 percent YoY growth, when compared to the earlier generation iPhone SE 2020,” Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group at CMR told Business Today.